TABLE 2.
Observation of none‐compliance in Addis Ababa
| Article | Observation of none‐compliance | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Article 4: Information and education | ||
| Sub‐rticle 4.2. Informational and educational materials, whether written, audio, or visual, dealing with the feeding of infants and intended to reach pregnant women and mothers of infants and young children |
36% of health facilities 24% of retailers |
All the informational/educational materials found at the health facilities and retail outlets were created by BMS manufacturers or distributors. None of them included the minimum necessary information |
| Subarticle 4.3. Companies that market foods for infants and young children should not create conflict of interest in health facilities or throughout health systems | 27% of health facilities | The equipment observed with logo from BMS manufacturers were infant weight scale, working cloth, and penholder |
| Article 5: The general public and mothers | ||
| Subarticle 5.1. There should be no advertising or other forms of promotion to the public of products within the scope of the Code | 41% of the mothers interviewed | They reported seeing at least one BMS promotion in the past 6 months: 73.8% on TV and 19.7% on billboard. Only 50% of the television incorporated the BMS code provisions into their media monitoring policy and 38% auto reported BMS advertisement into their channel |
| Subarticle 5.2. Manufacturers and distributors should not provide to pregnant women, mothers, or members of their families, sample of products | 0% of the mothers interviewed | ‐ |
| Subarticle 5.3. No point‐of‐sale advertising, giving of samples, or any other promotion device to induce sales directly to the consumer at retail level | 16 violations | 62.5% were poster on display and 19% discount to consumers |
| Subarticle 5.4. No distribution to pregnant women or mothers of children any gifts of articles or utensils that may promote the use of BMS | 0% of the mothers interviewed | ‐ |
| Subarticle 5.5. Marketing personnel, in their business capacity, should not seek direct or indirect contact of any kind with pregnant women or with mothers of infants and young children |
21% of health workers 29% of mothers |
The 7 health workers reported 17 reports of such contact made by baby food companies. The mothers reported that they were advised to feed their baby any milk products other than breast milk in the past 6 months |
| Article 6: Health care system | ||
| Subarticle 6.2. No facility of health care system should be used for prompting infant formula or other products | 6% of mothers | Mothers reported a health worker telling them to use a local commercial baby food/drink product based in Addis Ababa |
| Article 7: Health workers | ||
| Subarticle 7.2. Information provided by manufacturers and distributors to health professionals regarding products should be restricted to scientific and factual matters | 36% of health facilities | All the observed materials were non‐compliant as per any of the subitems under Subarticle 4.2 as well as Subarticle 7.2 |
| Subarticle 7.3. No financial or material inducements to promote products should be offered by manufacturers or distributors to health workers or members of their families or should be accepted | 15% of health workers | BMS company representatives made offers to sponsor events or workshops for health facility/staff as well as provided invitation and/or support to attend events/workshops outside the health facility |
| Subarticle 7.4. Samples of BMS, or of equipment or utensils for their preparation or use, should not be provided to health workers. Health workers should not give samples of infant formula to pregnant women, mothers of infants and young children, or members of their families | 0% of health workers | ‐ |
Abbreviation: BMS, breastmilk substitute.